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Serious Play Symposium
2014 Brisbane Serious Play Symposium Presentation contributing to a symposium of researchers and educators on the use of games in education. Zagami, J. (2014). 2014 Brisbane Serious Play Symposium [Presentation slides].
Serious Play Symposium
- 1. Secondary Worlds 2014 SeriousPlay Symposium Griffith University Dr Jason Zagami jason.zagami.info
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- 11. 25 Seasons since1989 530 episodes
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- 22. Secondary Worlds 2014 SeriousPlay Symposium Griffith University Dr Jason Zagami jason.zagami.info
Editor's Notes
- #3 History of Secondary Worlds Defence of fantasy as literature
- #4 Literature Comics Tv Movies Roleplaying Games - D&D Computer Games - WoW
- #5 Level of complexity for suspension of disbelief Advantage of games - participation and co-creation - adding to the secondary world Subcreation
- #6 Naive - hack and slash, shoot em ups, pure adventure, simple narratives Epic - moral choices, campaigns, Fan created league tables, websites, conventions and competitions Philosophic - myths, religions and philosophies Fan created additions to meet the need for philosophic levels
- #7 inherent need for sub created worlds to be complex secondary worlds where not developed, fans and players will fill this need - fan fiction, maps, artwork, modifications, etc.
- #8 educationally we can draw on student engagement with secondary worlds - be they fiction or games At the Naive level, learners face relatively simple problems to solve with clearly defined boundaries, contributing to fundamental mental models with clear and specific connections to related concepts. Remembering a name and associating this with a location, and various other properties such as its reliability as a source of subsistence, probability of danger, or opportunities for adventure; of the processes of buying, selling, negotiating, barter, saving and interest; driving a racing car on different surfaces and weather conditions; understanding the weakest points in a structure and firing a catapult to optimally reduce it to rubble; or a spaceship in a slingshot trajectory to avoid orbit. Each concept can be identified and modelled in a computer game with immediate feedback provided to its successful or unsuccessful application.
- #9 At the Epic level, learners face much more complex concepts spanning multiple mental models to solve more involved problems. Managing a city with competing demands from the poor and wealthy, industry and environment, progress and heritage; prosecuting wars between nations, managing espionage networks, and delicate diplomatic negotiations; or addressing economic, political and moral choices of when it is acceptable or not to lie, steal, fight, murder, or genocide. Such complexities can be modelled and have been individually contextualised in computer games, but the interplay between concepts for successful application is much more complex than at the Naïve level. They do however generate greater intrinsic reward and potentially greater benefit and acknowledgment to the learner.
- #10 Finally, at the Philosophical level, learners require the use of brain structures that develop slowly with age and experience, and are substantially different in youth. The learners sense of self and identity, their place in the world, their contribution to and meaning they make of life, and their moral and religious belief systems, all contribute to their world view. Contrasting this view with those in Secondary Worlds can prompt self reflection and examination. While few computer games tackle this level of Secondary World development, the constructs created by players to support these worlds, the personas gamers create of themselves, their gaming reputations and nature can all be explored. Contributing to the subcreation of Secondary Worlds can provide new perspectives on how we see the Primary World, and our place within it. Gamers adopting the role of guiding new gamers in their explorations generate other opportunities for reflection, while those undertaking destructive or megalomaniacal approaches have their own opportunities to reflect on their contribution and legacy in the Secondary and Primary World.
- #11 explored with preservice teachers using SimSchool limited success because students did not engage with the classroom and students presented